Start of the 36th edition of the ARC

Unusually, a south-easterly wind of 10 to 15 knots had set in, as opposed to the typical north-easterly trade winds. The competitors are forecast to experience very light weather, though most of them should be able to complete the course in 18 to 20 days. Among the fleet of multihulls, we found former winners of the event such as the TS42 Banzaï, the TS5 Guyader Saveol and the NEEL 47 Minimole. Our contributors Brieuc Maisonneuve and Maxence Valdelièvre, respectively aboard the TS5 Addictive Sailing and the Class 6 One Cat, look to have good speed potential - Brieuc appears to be the only multihull skipper giving the northern route a go, in an attempt to catch the low pressure, and thus wind, maybe even a lot of wind... At the skippers' briefing, meteorologist Chris Tibbs advised the boats to head south along the African coast to the latitude of the Cape Verde islands before turning their bows west towards Saint Lucia. In the end, a total of 208 yachts will cross the Atlantic, as the 67 competitors in the ARC+ left Mindelo, Cape Verde, on the second leg of their crossing on Friday, November 19th, bound for Grenada. A further 60 yachts will be taking part in the first edition of an ARC in January, marking the first time that there’s been a third transatlantic rally organized by the World Cruising Club. The route for this crossing will be Gran Canaria to Saint Lucia.